CHAPTER TWO

A Chapter by Coffee123321

CYPRIAN

I don’t know how I got here. I really generally don’t.

One moment, I’m sitting on the floor, minding my own damn business, trying to draw a sick new sketch of Hades dog, Cerberus.

Some girl comes near and stares at me for a bit�"mostly at my drawing, if I’m being honest�"and what do I think? I think she’ll be just like a doll face, Dione. Just like every other girl falling for me. Just a quick moment. A quick heart stealing moment to make her go a bit crazy for me.

And the next thing I know?

The same girl�"Mania Lamia�"that I just met not even twenty minutes ago, is in front of me, smiling like we’ve known each other all our lives, holding out her hand to greet me like this is some business party or something. Not exactly how I thought my Tuesday would go, but that's fine I guess.

The second she says her name, the book of greek meanings that dad makes me study pops up into my mind. Lamia…great. Either her family has a great taste for irony or she’s wearing that name on purpose. Trickster blood, she says. Not the harmless kind, either I’d bet by the way she’s presenting herself.

I snap outta my thoughts and smirk, “Nope, no golden necklace. Sorry to disappoint. My name wasn’t gifted by the great Zeus or anything hopeful at least. Unless leather counts, otherwise, I got nothing” I shrug it off like it’s nothing. Like it means nothing to me but It’s sad, really, but true. It’s not like my immortal parents cared about me much. Neither do my mortal parents…but that’s besides the point right now.

Without having a second thought, I stand up from the floor, an inch taller than Mania, and reach up, and pull a thin leather cord from beneath the collar of my black hoodie. A small bronze charm dangles from it�"old, shaped like a heart with an arrow deep in it with my name�"Cyprian�"wraped around the outline of the heart. Fitting for someone who doesn’t even know their own damn parents.

I point to the leather cord that's dapped on my neck and start talking again, “This is all I had when they found me. Not a clue what the heart or arrow means.” I pause, letting my word fill the air around us, then I continue softly, “Someone just scribbled ‘Cyprian’ on my birth certificate because they needed a name that sounded like it belonged to a powerful god. Or at least that’s my best guess.”

At this point, I already knew I screwed up. Big time. Like, who in the underworld tells the meaning of their name and their traumatic life story after knowing a person for not even a half a day? I bet she’s just gonna look at me weirdly and move on with her life. That’s what I wish I could do right now. Just walk away like nothing�"

Wait…is she…?

Oh gods. She’s really making herself comfortable like she’s really interested.

Mania, the same girl who almost stabbed me without even knowing my name, is sitting on the cold school floor, playing with her fingers, glancing up at me to sit down again. And I do just that. Why did I you may ask, I have no clue myself, my friend.

“I like you.” She says, and that alone almost gives me a heart attack. But she continued without noticing she almost ended my life in three words, “I'll keep you as an Ally for now...only because you're fun.” She pauses and glances at me before finishing with a small, devil like smile, “The bad fun that's already got me hooked.”

Bad fun? BAD fun?! I thought there was only good fun, none of this…bad fun and Mania looking at me like…that?

Yet, snapping me outta my thoughts again, she keeps talking.

“My mother named me Mania because, well...my father likes wine...when I say ‘likes’ I mean really like it. My mom thought I'd be bad just like him.”

Cyprian.ex has stopped working.

What is she talking about?! Wine?! Really?! I mean, Mania doesn’t seem all that bad. But she almost cut open my neck a few minutes ago. Maybe her mother does know best.

“She named me something that meant madness.” Mania says casually.

“She wasn't far from the truth, clearly.” I responded back. I get a weird glance from Mania but she keeps going anyway.

“My father...he didn't care what I was called.” She says, now holding my gaze, “As long as I picked grapes everyday for him after school...don't ask.”

That was the final clue. That’s who her father is�"of course! How could I be that stupid? I look closer at Mania.

Same deep blue eyes with black along the edges. Same jet black hair�"even though she has dark red highlights. Even the same olive�"skinned appearances…there’s no way this is a countenance. Not at all…

“D-Dionysus? H-He’s your…f-father?” I say with a tight smile that physically hurts my face. I put my hands into my pockets, balled into fists, nails digging into my own skin. Why her? Why Mania? Why does she outta all people have to be his daughter?

“Ha…” I laugh weakly, still strange myself, “A-At least your mom had a great sense of humor.” And that’s the thing isn’t it? I wish it was funny. Like Percy was just gonna pop outta my locker with a confetti cannon yelling ‘IT’S A JOKE’ ‘YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN YOUR FACE MAN!!”. But I know this isn’t a joke.

I pray that I’ve guessed wrong. That her father is just a god who likes wine but is a whole different other god. In fact, Ares would be better than Dionysus. But her small nod confirmed my worst fear. I thought I’d never live to see the day that I met his daughter and yet…

Mania.

Her she godsdamn is…

Her mouth is moving, but I only hear half of what she says now, my mind still wrapped around her being his daughter.

“I like your name.” She says, which almost takes me out of my confused state, “Sounds almost like Cipher. What does your name mean?...Cyprian...sounds fancy for someone like you…”

“H-Huh?” I ask before her question fully loaded in my mind, “O-Oh…Cyprian’s old. Older than I am of course, honestly. It comes from ‘Kypros,’ you know, the island. Supposedly it means ‘of Cyprus’. Some say it’s a name for people who followed Aphrodite, the queen of beauty herself.” I say, my voice is less shaky. So, her dad is just my dads worst enemy, it can’t get any worse…right?

“Someone once told me it could also mean ‘the one who doesn’t belong anywhere.’”

“You told you that?” Mania asks, a bit of shock on her face.

I cross my arms and smirk, “Go ahead and guess, you’ll never guess�"”

“Akouo's words?”

“Lucky guess, princess.” The nickname slips outta my mouth before I could even process what I just call Mania. But once I catch it? Only one word to expression my thoughts now:

Crap. Crap, crap, crap.

I glance over at Mania to see if she caught it too�"which thank Zeus she didn’t�"and I breathe a huge sigh of relief as I see her just playing with the tips of her hair.

Feeling a bit bolder after the stupid ‘princess’ comment, I look at the floor and whisper but loud enough for Mania to hear, “You know, Mania, if you keep calling me ‘Rascal’ and saying you like me in the same breath, people are gonna start talking…about things…” Immediately, I shift a little, my face turning a bit…hot? Weird…that never happens unless it's summer. It's the middle of October for god's sake.

“Allies keep secrets, though. So you’ll have to tell me one of yours next time. Fair trade.”

I say, matter of factly, trying to keep talking to her. Sure, I’m still a bit upset about her father, but I’ve heard worse…totally…yeah…

…No not really…

“It's a good thing I don't have any secrets then, huh?” She replies.

“I like your name. Your mortals were right...it fits you well, even if the meaning doesn't.” Mania says outta nowhere. And for some strange reason, that makes my chest feel slightly…happy and…warm inside?

“You're the first to find out.'Bout my dad I mean...wine god's correct.” She says, “Make me get grapes to make his wine. My father's Dionysus, which you already knew....mother's Hecate.”

I pretty much stopped listening after that. Her mom is…H-Hecate? Gods. And I thought Dionysus was bad. This? This is very very bad. I snapped out my thoughts to hear Mania’s voice again, “--my last name is this snake�"this kind of lady...legs and feet, snake scales and all, while the rest of it is all human...who's your mortal?”

“Hecate…y-you say?” Is all I can manage to choke out. There’s this sharp pain in my chest, almost like I’m fighting back tears, but strangely enough, I don’t think or feel like I’m going to cry. At all. Even so, I hear my voice more than I feel like I can control it.

“My m-mortal parents?” I ask, clearing my throat, trying to sound more confident, “Hecate. Dionysus. They said witchcraft and wine ruined everything mortals dared to touch. They said if there was ever proof that gods shouldn’t mix with mortals, it was always and just those two.”

Zeus, help me. I can just picture my mom’s face when she told me to stay away from all temples, from every offerings, from children who belong to them. Dad breaking the wine bottles behind the shed, muttering about “never again.” Then buying a whole pack the next day because he decided that he was “giving another chance to Dionysus."

“Guess that explains the grapes," I manage, a thin ghost of a grin sliding across my mouth, trying to cover up the forceness in it, "And the madness. You… carry them both like you own them, though.”

“Can’t tell if that’s a compliment or an insult.” Mania says, smiling slightly

“Well it isn’t an insult.” I say back, smirking. Then I stop myself.

Was I…flirting? I can’t even tell anymore.

“Guess that makes us even. And it means I can’t hate you for what you are, even if my parents might.” The words spilled out of my mouth before I could stop them. I immediately notice my mistake and flench my fists hard, nails digging into the palm of my hand again.

“Hatered?” Mania says, tilting her head as if she didn’t hear me right, “What, you got a problem with my blood? My bloodline, really? Do you have a problem with my parents? Have you even met them? No, I bet you haven't, now have you, Mr?” She says, standing up now, pissed.

Just as quickly I scramble up, my face pale, shaking a little by how quickly things escalated.

“I-I didn’t mean it like that." My voice comes out a little rougher than I want it to. The apology is there, I swear…but just underneath the defensive edge, it’s wrapped up in something that feels like too many years of hearing things he didn’t want to hear about his parents, let alone people talking about them.

Before my heartbeat could even steady again, Mania fires back, looking me dead in the eye like a hawk, “Cyprian, you Rascal�"who are your parents?” She damans, clearly agitated.

The words keep spilling out of my mouth as a wave of realization hits me�"the word might be coming from me, but they sure as heck ain’t mine.

“My dad’s... well, he’s the son of Pentheus. Yeah, that King Pentheus.”

“Calchas?” Mania asks, a bit softer now as I nod.

“He’s not a king. Not anymore.” Wanting to change the subject off my dad, I try to walk away, but my feet are rooted to the red tilted ground.

And I sure as hell moved the topic off my dad…and right on to my mom.

“As for my mom...her name was Helena. She...wasn’t meant to be involved with gods, but she was close to someone who was. She got too close. And then one day she just... disappeared…forever.”

As the words tumbled out of me, I looked into the hallway, not really feeling. Not really noticing. Not really aware. Not even really existing till my voice started to tremble a bit from emotion. I can’t exactly tell someone I just met that I have a dead parent and one that still carries the hate of Hecate and Dionysus and his shoulder.

I shake my head slightly, my lay backed mask on again. “But we’re not our parents, now are we, Miss. Mania?” I say, smirking, putting my hands in my pocket. Mania eye’s me but shrugs it off thankfully, probably sensing that I wasn’t very comfortable talking about my life as much as she was.

I’m about to ask her if she’d want to come to Morpheus party with me, just because I have another invite that I sucked out before when a small, dark blue letter came in through the hallway and fluttered its wings right in front of Mania.

Before she could take it, I saw a small peek at the front of the letter. It said:

“TO OUR DAUGHTER, MANIA LAMIA.

LOVE,

YOUR GORGEOUS AND BEAUTIFUL MOTHER, HECATE

DELIVERED BY HERMES MAIL SERVICE"

Great. Just as I was about to make a move, her parents sent a message.

“Dear Mania,” Mania read out loud, quietly, “Your father, Dionysus is getting angry, not being able to make his beloved wine. You know how your mother needs to make her spells for the morals. Today, I need to make a spell for this one mortal, a god, who needs to make their son fall in love with another goddess. You know how it is with gods and love. How else would you finally get to know what love feels like. Anyway, back to the point. Your dead beat father needs you to come and gather grapes from the garden before sunset. I’ll see you soon, sweetheart. Love, Hecate.” Mania finished reading the letter from her mom.

Damn…and I thought MY family was bad.

Mania shoves the letter in her jean pocket and glances at me. She shrugs casually, looking at the floor, “Don’t worry about that, Cyprian. They won’t do anything unless they’re REALLY mad. Right now, they’re level is mid,”

That made me smile a bit, I won’t lie. Anyway, since she was already in some sort of trouble, I knew the party invite was off the table for a while…

I wonder if she plays anything.

“Well…I might not play anything,” Mania says suddenly, “But I do sing a bit. It’s…one of my hobbies you could say.” Her shoulder tensed a little when she said that, but I let it go since I was still wondering how she knew what I was thinking, because I sure as heck never said it out loud. She really is something…strange, I guess. Through that feels like a understatement

“Wanna go to the music room? I think I left�"”

“Sorry,” I interrupted Mania, backing a few steps away towards the school doors, “But I have track in about…”

I glanced down to my wrist, where my icy watch was ticking.

It’s four o’clock…

S**t! Track’s at four thirty!

But…so does my meeting!

Without a single explanation, I sprint out the door, the fastest I’ve ever ran. The wind blew in my face as I charged out into the cold air, sweat somehow already forming. Don’t get me wrong, I love track. But a meeting with THE Fates?! That should be any damn kid's dream. I hear you only meet them once in a thousand years.

And I do NOT plan on waiting that long.

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